> 1) Why do animals die?
Because Foundchild/Waha/Zong/whoever used the Death Rune on their great ancestors, setting up the cycle of death-for-life which is embodied in oh-so-many animal-dependent cults.
Or, because animals are just like humans, really (Hsunchen view).
> 2) Since the Knight caste was invented by Hrestol, what did St
> Horal do?
Horal ("Saint Horal" sounds wrong to me) was the son of Malkion who founded the military/soldier caste of the Brithini. Hrestol's "Knights" were a caste-transcending innovation. Essentially, the Horali are megadeath-inflicting immortal perfect warriors, while the Hrestoli Knights are chivalrous, courteous paladins of virtue. There's a *big* difference.
You'll see spin-offs from this confusion in the modern West: the "original" Hrestoli of the Castle Coast still practice the "Old Hrestoli Way" where Knights are those who have mastered the arts of all four castes, while in Loskalm there is still a difference between Farmers, Soldiers and Knights. Loskalmi or Castle Coast Seshnegi complain that the "Knights" of Rokari Seshnela lack any sense of chivalry, etc. "Of course," say the Rokari. "Is this so-called 'chivalry' mentioned in the scriptures of Malkion?"
My Homepage <http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Nick_Brooke> has a link to the "How the West was One" sect writeup of Old Seshnelan Chivalry (the Castle Coast religion), and Tales #13 had a full writeup of modern Hrestoli Idealism from Loskalm, stating the differences between Soldiers and Knights in that land.
There were Brithini soldiers before the Dawn; calling their caste "Knights" is something invented since. I cannot recall seeing any mention of Brithini cavalry, BTW: there may be a story in this.
> 3) Who/what is the God of the Silver Feet?
Exactly what he's stated to be: a local "god" of communication. The ritual which summoned him is stated to have been a blasphemous, sorcerous conspiracy: I have always found it useful to compare the God Learners with RW demonologists. The Syndics were meddling with powers they *knew* good Malkioni weren't supposed to touch with a proverbial ten-foot pole; consider what was at stake for their land, though, and you can see why they stepped beyond the pale.
> 4) Anyone got a good definition of "human" for Glorantha?
Tee hee... wars and pogroms and schisms start over things like this. Taking your "double damage" example, I'd go like this (quite frivolously, I assure you):
Agimori: as "Men-and-a-Half", they take 2.5x damage! (The powergaming munchkins who take Agimori characters deserve no less).
Hsunchen: Entirely human. And maybe their animals are, too!
Waertagi, Tusk Riders, Kitori: half-human; 1.5x damage?
Vadeli: exactly as human as the Brithini, for what that's worth.
> 5) Why doesn't Issaries have a doubled "Issaries" rune?
He sold his spare one to Argan Argar.
::::
Nick
::::
Powered by hypermail